Winter's Legacy
by Lucannon
Summary: A slight AU where the OC is the Maiden of Winter. How will the cast deal with a shy, asthmatic maiden who may very well end up becoming a key player against the forces of darkness? Rating it M right off the bat because of what I have planned for later chapters, though that most likely won't include any lemons. Pairings undecided.
1. Chapter 1

_After reading several RWBY fanfiction I was surprised that there weren't that many involving the Winter or Summer maidens. This is my attempt to rectify that. Slightly AU._

Prologue- Winter Wolf

The wind whispered through the trees of a dense forest, the moonlight breaking through its canopy in thin beams. Insects chirped at each other while overhead the shape of a large nevermore flew lazily through the night sky, confident in its superiority over those that dwelled below.

Its overconfidence would soon be its downfall, for only a minute later a large boulder raced towards it from the direction of the forest below and crashed into it. With a surprised screech, the nevermore spiraled out of the air and crashed through the forest canopy. As it landed with a thud, it was immediately killed by a spear of ice penetrating its skull and destroying its head. Its body twitched for several seconds before it slowly began to disintegrate.

The one responsible for the nevermore's death soon walked out from the bushes where they had been tracking the grimm's flight path. As they stepped more into the moonlight, their features became more visible.

They were a female faunus, about seventeen, with a pair of fluffy white ears that made it clear they were a wolf faunus, her long hair styled in a loose ponytail matching in color. Below her haphazardly cut bangs, a pair of gold colored eyes peered cautiously around the area. She was dressed in a tattered black leather duster jacket that hung down to her knees. Underneath her jacket, she wore a figure-hugging light grey corset that had a pink heart shaped pin pinned to its left breast. Her lower half was covered by a skirt that ended a few centimeters above her knees and dark blue leggings. On her feet were a pair of muddy combat boots that showed off how much walking she had been doing up to that point. Finally, to round out this ensemble, she had a white furred tail, just as fluffy as her ears, that swished lightly behind her and a long pink scarf around her neck that she used to cover up the lower half of her face, accompanied by a pair of aviator goggles that was currently pulled up.

For equipment, she appeared to have a large rucksack that was slung over her right shoulder and a pair of fingerless gloves covered her hands. On her belt was strapped a pair of silver, razor sharp chakrams, one on each hip, that gleamed in the moonlight. Her hands twitched towards these weapons as she advanced uncertainly deeper into the forest.

The faunus froze as she began to hear growling coming from her left and whipped towards that direction, just in time to dodge the clawed attack of a beowolf. The grimm snarled in frustration at the failure of its attack but quickly pressed the attack, forcing the girl to skip backwards. Behind it, she could see dozens of red eyes begin to appear out of the darkness and knew that the rest of the pack had arrived.

"Erm, were you guys friends with that nevermore?" she asked, ducking underneath the first beowolf's continued attacks. "Because I only killed it to avoid having to sneak around it." She attempted a charming smile. "A-and we're sort of related, in a weird kind of way! We're all wolves here! So…give a very distant cousin a break?" At the snarling response from the multiple beowolves that were now rushing towards her, her face fell. "Well, it was worth a shot…sorry about this!"

With that, the girl let her rucksack fall to the ground with a thud and unclipped her chakrams from her belt. She rolled out of the way of an incoming attack and threw one of her weapons at the nearest beowolf. The chakram missed by a hairsbreadth, but unfortunately for the beowolf it had been aimed at the spinning disk immediately curved in midair and sliced it in two a moment later.

Meanwhile the girl had sent her other chakram flying, both disks now zipping through the air as if they had a mind of their own, disemboweling any unfortunate grimm that got in their way. With her hands free, the faunus began engaging the grimm in hand to hand combat, wreathing her forearms in lightning that sent out sparks with each hit she administered.

Despite her powerful attacks, both with her fists and her flying chakrams, the number of grimm seemed to be growing and she soon realized this. Disengaging from her current opponent, she held out her hands and recalled her chakrams to her. Once they had returned to her grip, she hurriedly strapped them back to her belt and flipped back towards her rucksack.

"O-okay, you asked for it!" she cried and flipped her goggles down over her eyes.

The lenses of the goggles barely blocked the glow that began to emit from her eyes as the faunus slowly hovered into the air, surrounded by a sudden tornado of wind. The air soon began growing much colder as she enhanced the tornado with shards of ice. A beowolf foolishly tried to knock the faunus out of the air and was quickly shredded, what was left of its body disintegrating as it fell. With a grunt, the girl flung her arms out wide and the icy tornado exploded outwards, engulfing the area in its fury and tearing apart the entire pack of beowolves in seconds.

As the last shadowy wisps of the defeated grimm dissipated, the faunus gracefully landed back on solid earth. She let out a relieved breath and moved to retrieve her pack, a blue forcefield that had protected it from her attack fading away as she approached. Just as she bent down to pick it up, a hiss far louder than any of the beowolves' growls caused her to stiffen.

From beneath the cover of the trees directly in front of her, a black scaled snake head accompanied by a white scaled head slithered towards her. She let out a gasp when she realized what it was: a King Taijitu, one of the most dangerous species of grimm and unlike the nevermore she had slain earlier she wouldn't be able to take it by surprise.

"Oh…that's not good…" she squeaked.

She quickly grabbed her bag and jumped backwards as both heads struck down at her. Relentlessly, the King Taijitu tracked her body's trajectory and continued striking at her. The girl was barely able to dodge the repeated attacks and knew that if she didn't do something soon she would die.

"Wait…powers…" she mumbled to herself eventually, having genuinely forgotten her elemental abilities in the fear of the moment.

Her eyes glowed once more as she raised her left hand and summoned several bolts of lightning. The attack landed, causing the King Taijitu to rear and hiss in pain, although it soon shook itself and continued attacking.

Huffing in frustration, the girl threw her bag to the ground and unzipped it. A moment later wires, metal and circuitry flew out of it and began to orbit around her. She once again unstrapped her chakrams and they immediately split apart, joining the tornado of parts around her.

As the technological tornado around her began to construct itself into a different form, the faunus dodged and weaved gracefully through the attacks of the King Taijitu's twin heads. She also began to respond, combining fire and wind to create blades of flaming air that sliced into the thick scaly hide of the aggressive grimm.

Despite her elemental attacks, the grimm persisted and soon cornered her against a tree. As it reared up and hissed in apparent victory, the faunus let out a sigh of relief as a feminine shaped android slammed into the grimm, knocking it back several feet.

"Sorry that took so long, Val," she called up to the android as it flipped back to land in front of her.

"That's alright, Miss Neve," Val quipped cheerfully in a soothing, female voice. "I'm just glad I can assist you in slaying this grimm." The android then paused. "Although I would have preferred you to construct me sooner; has your asthma caused you trouble yet?"

The girl grimaced. "Not yet, Val. It would take quite a bit to kill myself, though I get the feeling that I should avoid exhausting myself before we get to the next city."

"Fair enough…oh look, the King Taijitu has recovered."

True to Val's observation, the grimm had indeed collected itself and was now furiously slithering towards the pair. They immediately jumped into action, Val's hands transforming into blades as she moved to cut off the grimm's approach while her creator once again levitated into the air, eyes glowing as thunderclouds began forming overhead.

"Sorry trees!" she yelled after a few seconds before plunging a hand down curled into a fist.

As Val nonchalantly batted aside the white scaled head, a gigantic fist made of lightning descended through the trees, breaking through the forest canopy and sending branches and leaves flying in all directions. Val, without even bothering to look up, rolled backwards as the lightning fist impacted with the King Taijitu.

There was an electrified explosion that made both faunus and android wince. With a shrieking hiss, the King Taijitu's heads flailed in agony, the noise deafening to both the faunus's wolf ears and human ears. Finally, and thankfully, the grimm's body exploded into shadow, a calm silence slowly descending over the forest once again.

Val glanced over as her creator floated down next to her. "How exactly was that attack not supposed to wear you out, Miss Neve?"

The girl smiled tiredly. "By not having someone to distract it as I charged it up, that's how." She then pouted. "And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Tiir?"

As the faunus and the android chuckled, neither of them noticed the raven that flew spread its wings and flew away into the night sky.

_A bio on the OC this chapter introduced…_

_Tiir Aqua, 17 (wolf faunus, Winter Maiden)_

_Physical Appearance- White hair/fur, wolf ears/tail, ponytail hair style, gold colored eyes, about 5ft 1in._

_Attire- Knee length black leather duster jacket, light grey corset, pink scarf, pink aviator goggles, dark blue leggings, combat boots, pink heart-shaped pin._

_Equipment- Rucksack that she keeps the parts for VAL in, pair of razor-edged silver chakram that can either be fused with Val or transformed into a pair of longswords or SMGs._

_(VAL (Victorious Android Lady)- hot pink coloring, converted from the discarded chassis of an Atlesian Knight 130 and heavily modified and upgraded thanks to Tiir's semblance. Val is now on equal or higher terms with the most advanced Atlesian mechanoids and can handle more powerful grimm with ease.)_

_Personality- Shy, bordering on meek, but with a kind heart. Despite being somewhat handicapped due to her asthma, Tiir can be surprisingly positive and outspoken when in company she is comfortable with._

_Abilities- Semblance (True Technopathy)- Allows Tiir to communicate and control any form of technology. She can also manipulate and upgrade/downgrade technology, but only if she is familiar with its technical workings (this is why she is able to build/dismantle Val with ease, since she took the time to study the original Atlesian Knight chassis)._

_Maiden Powers- Having years of practice, Tiir is an extremely competent Maiden, though she is prone to tiring herself out quickly due to her asthma if forced into prolonged combat. Despite this, she is literally a force of nature and can rain untold destruction on her foes._

_As for updates, there may be periods where I upload several chapters at once, or only one a week. I am forever a slave to my work schedule, so I hope you stick with this story if you find to be interesting enough. _

_Also, if I were to give Tiir a theme song it would be 'Love Like Winter' by AFI._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One- A Vytal Encounter

"Finally, we made it!" Tiir panted, doubling over and wheezing as Val calmly rubbed her back. "I really thought I was gonna die when we had to climb up that mountain!"

"Perhaps you should use your puffer, Miss Neve?" the android suggested.

Tiir nodded tiredly and reached into her rucksack. As she inhaled her asthma medicine, Val walked over to a poster that had been stuck on a nearby wall and studied it.

"It appears there is some kind of festival scheduled in the next few days, Miss Neve," she informed her creator.

"Oh, I love festivals!" Tiir replied happily, quickly joining the android and looking over the poster. "Huh…this Vytal Festival seems to be some sort of interschool tournament…cool."

"Will you try to enter, Miss Neve?"

The faunus sighed. "No point; I'd need to have a full team if I wanted to do that." She paused then, thinking. "Although…if I could get my hands on enough parts I could construct two temporary teammates and then hack the systems to register the team…" She then giggled. "But that would be totally illegal…right?"

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself, Miss Neve?" the android asked. If her faceplate had allowed it, Tiir imagined that there would be an amused smirk on it.

"Which school would I even pretend to be from?" Tiir mumbled, completely dropping pretenses. "I'd imagine they would have a log of all their teams…"

As the faunus contemplated her situation, and all the ways she could sneak into the tournament, a huge explosion suddenly erupted somewhere in the city.

"What the heck…!" Tiir gasped, jolted from her thoughts. "Where did that come from?"

"Judging from the direction, I'd say it was from the docks, Miss Neve," Val answered after a moment. "Should we investigate?"

Tiir grappled with herself internally before sighing. "If it's a danger to the citizens of this city, then I suppose we should try to do something about it."

"As you say, Miss Neve," Val nodded, following her creator as she headed towards the docks. After a moment she continued. "By the way, Miss Neve, the docks are the other way."

Blushing, Tiir switched directions, her android companion following silently.

"It's all over kiddoes!" Roman Torchwick laughed snarkily from inside his stolen Atlesian Paladin.

"Scatter!" Ruby Rose squeaked as the Paladin began firing its cannons at herself and her team.

The four teens from Beacon Academy, and their tag-alongs Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias, quickly exited the warehouse as Roman crashed the Paladin through its walls.

"Okay, so what now?" Sun asked conversationally, his monkey tail twitching in agitation.

"Um…we take it down?" Ruby replied uncertainly.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Weiss Schnee said sarcastically. "Paladins are not to be underestimated."

"I say we punch it til it breaks!" Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's older sister, suggested, bashing her fists together.

"Yeah, I like that plan!" Ruby nodded eagerly. "I-I mean, we'd probably leave the punching to you Yang but it's a good idea."

"Perhaps a more in-depth plan than just 'punch it until it breaks' is needed?" Weiss sighed.

"Whatever you're planning, we should probably move," Blake Belladonna said, pointing. "Torchwick seems to have lost patience with our inaction."

True to her words, the Paladin was charging straight towards them, firing multiple missiles as it approached. The six teens scattered again and responded with their own attacks, though theirs bounced off the mech's tough armor.

"Damn, this thing's seriously annoying!" Yang growled. A moment later she stepped into the open. "So, let's see how annoying it can be!"

The yellow haired brawler let out a war cry and charged directly at the Paladin, firing off blasts from her gauntlets Ember Celica. With a laugh, Roman turned his mech around to meet her charge.

"You serious, kid?" he cackled. "Someone woke up on the suicidal side of the bed today!"

Just before the two could meet in combat, a hot pink colored figure in a similarly colored hooded jacket jumped in between them.

"Excuse me, but I must insist that you do not engage the mechanoid," the figure, a tall woman, informed Yang.

"W-what? Who the hell are you?" Yang demanded.

"Apologies; my designation is Val," the woman introduced herself. "A pleasure to meet you, young miss."

"Er…right…" Yang's eyes widened in alarm as she saw movement from behind the woman. "Watch out!"

Her warning came too late as the Paladin punched down at Val. However, much to the shock of all those watching, the woman simply held up a hand and stopped the Paladin's fist cold without even budging an inch.

"I have to say, I am not impressed by my successors," Val commented. "Then again, it hasn't had the benefits of my creator's semblance to help it out. Allow me to show you what you are missing."

Even as she spoke, Val gripped the Paladin's fist with both hands and without even a grunt of effort she whirled the much larger mechanoid around and hurled it into the air. Following the Paladin, she jumped up higher than it and kicked it straight back down where it made a massive crater in the ground as it landed. A moment later, Roman kicked open the cockpit of the Paladin and staggered away cursing.

Landing next to the amazed Yang, Val dusted off her hands and glanced at the teen. "I suggest you back away now, young miss."

"Why?"

"Because of that…" Val replied, pointing up.

Looking up, Yang and her companions saw a large, flaming boulder descending rapidly from the clouds. With a strangled yelp Yang scrambled to cover, just in time as the boulder crashed down onto the prone mech. There was an explosion, the shockwave blowing back Val's hood, and a large plume of fire erupted into the air.

Val sighed. "I do believe that was overdoing it, Miss Neve," she muttered to herself.

Ruby and the others poked their heads out from behind their various forms of cover.

"Er…is it safe to come out?" Ruby asked uncertainly.

Val ignored the crimson clad girl and instead walked over to the edge of the crater. "Well, that's a surprise; the mech appears to be mostly intact," she said, sounding slightly impressed. "Perhaps I underestimated the durability of my successors." Without even looking over her shoulder, the woman continued, "Shall you be wanting to utilize this brute, Miss Neve? You did say you wanted to create some more teammates."

The others started when a girl, even shorter than Ruby, levitated slowly from the top of a nearby building and landed softly next to Val.

"Ooh, I could create something really cool out of this thing!" the newcomer gushed, an excitable air around her as she bounced down into the crater and poked at the still intact Paladin. "Good thing I only put a little bit of power into that attack, huh?"

"That was a lower power attack?!" Weiss cried out disbelievingly as she and the others joined Val at the top of the crater.

The girl let out an adorable squeak of surprise and hid behind the large hand of the Paladin. "Er…who's there?"

"There are currently four humans and two faunus, around your age, currently present with me, Miss Neve," Val informed her companion.

"Um…n-nice to meet you," the girl nervously called out from where she was hiding. "Y-you can call me Tiir Neve, if you want to."

"Nice to meet you too, Tiir!" Ruby replied cheerfully. She then proceeded to introduce herself and her friends before frowning slightly. "So…are you gonna tell us why you're here?"

"I-I just wanted to see what caused that explosion from earlier and stop it if it was a danger to the city," Tiir explained. "B-but you guys seemed to be doing alright by the time Val and I showed up so…sorry for interrupting?"

"Are you kidding? What you did was so cool!" Ruby exclaimed loudly, sliding down the crater and skipping over to where Tiir was crouched behind the metal hand. "Is that your semblance?"

"Sort of…it was part of it," Tiir mumbled, peeking over the top of her cover and freezing when she saw Ruby staring right back at her. "S-sorry, but could you please move back a little; I'm not comfortable around strangers all that much."

Ruby's face fell but she took a few steps back. "No, no, that's fine. I just wanted to thank you more in person for helping out."

"You're welcome…" Tiir smiled slightly at Ruby. She then cautiously stood up and shuffled out of her cover. "Anyway, you should step back a little more…"

"Oh, are you still uncomfortable?" Ruby asked, sounding slightly dejected.

"No, no…well, a little…but I need some space for what I'm about to do next."

Ushering Ruby to the side with a sudden bout of determination, Tiir turned back to the Paladin and raised a hand.

"Erm…is something supposed to be happening?" Yang whispered to Weiss who elbowed her in the side in response.

As Yang rubbed her side, the watching teens were surprised when the giant mech began to twitch. Val, on the other hand, watched calmly as the broken patches and scattered pieces of the Paladin swirled quickly towards the main body of the robot.

"Woah, that's pretty cool!" Sun whistled, leaning forwards so he could get a better view.

"That's definitely some semblance she has there," Neptune agreed with his friend.

Eventually the Paladin was restored to pristine condition, towering over the group of humans and faunus.

"OHMYGODTHATISAMAZING!" Ruby yelled excitedly, zipping around the feet of the Paladin and inspecting every inch of it. "You can bring robots back to life?!"

"Er…n-no, I can communicate with and control technology…" Tiir stuttered, inching away from the energized Ruby.

"That's still so cool!" Ruby grinned from where she was now checking out the cannons on the Paladin. "What's the biggest robot you've ever had?" At this comment, Weiss had to elbow Yang in the side again as the blonde brawler let out a snort at her sister's words.

"This one definitely," Tiir replied, a small smile gracing her features as she stepped towards the Paladin and looked up at it. "Hey, Val, what can you tell me about this thing?"

"A moment, Miss Neve," Val replied. After a moment, the android continued. "Atlesian Paladin 290, though this particular one appears to be a prototype. The prototypes were recently revealed to the public by General Ironwood to showcase the next step in military technology that Atlas were taking to better safeguard the civilian masses. It is a culmination of a joint operation between the greatest minds of Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company."

"Wait, how did you know all that?" Weiss demanded. "You didn't use a scroll to look that up!"

Tiir giggled. "That's because Val isn't a human or a faunus; she's a converted Atlesian Knight 130." She pointed at Val's face. "I mean, she doesn't exactly have a face, does she?"

"I thought that was a mask to be honest," Blake remarked, peering at the now revealed mechanoid. She then raised an eyebrow. "Wait…does that mean she just hacked the SDC's secure severs?"

The wolf faunus looked guilty as she shrugged. "Maybe…I-I mean, I only have her do that when I need to learn something about a new piece of technology. I can only upgrade stuff if I have a good idea of how it works."

"That sounds totally illegal," Weiss snapped. "And I'm not just saying that because I'm a Schnee myself, I'm saying that because it is actually a felony to do something like that!"

Tiir squeaked in horror. "You're a Schnee?!"

"Yes, you dolt, Ruby introduced me!"

"Actually, Miss Ruby only introduced yourself and your compatriots by your first names, Miss Weiss," Val interjected.

Weiss looked dumbfounded at that. "But I would have thought it was obvious who I am! I mean, as much as I hate to admit it, I have my family's looks!" She pointed to her white hair as if it were obvious.

"Again, that doesn't necessarily mean anything," Val replied. "My creator has white hair; does that mean she's from the Schnee family?"

Yang let out a laugh. "Robot lady's got ya there, Weissy!"

Weiss sighed. "Even so, I still feel like a should report this…" Her words were cut off by her gasping at the sudden feel of steel at her throat courtesy of Val, whose left hand had transformed into a blade.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to turn myself or my creator into the SDC, Miss Weiss," the mechanoid informed the heiress politely. "Should you continue with that train of thought I will have no choice but to derail it with extreme violence. I apologize for any inconvenience such an occurrence might have on your continued existence." At the sight of their friend being threatened, all save Ruby pointed their own weapons at Val, who looked extremely unconcerned while Tiir began to panic.

Before Tiir could yell at her mechanoid friend to stand down, several bullheads suddenly flew into view and formed a ring around the crater and them.

"Put your weapons on the ground and your hands on your heads!" came the magnified voice of one of the bullheads' pilots. "Submit yourself into the custody of the Knights that are inbound to your position!"

"Oh great, this is just perfect!" Yang growled, not taking her eyes off Val. "Look, just put your sword-hand down so we can deal with this! Either way, all of us are gonna have to have a chat with the SDC now."

"That result is unacceptable, Miss Yang," Val replied. "As Miss Weiss has already stated, her allegiance is, understandably, to her family's company. What guarantee do I have that nothing ill will befall my creator?"

"I mean, you probably ruined any shot of a positive outcome from this mess," Sun spoke up. "What with holding that blade of yours at the throat of the SDC's CEO's daughter's neck." He grimaced. "Jeez, that was a mouthful to say."

"U-Um…he's right, Val," Tiir admonished weakly. "What have I told you about jumping straight to the violent option?"

Val cocked her head. "Apologies, Miss Neve, but I seem to have forgotten your words on such matters due to my overwhelming desire to protect you." She glanced at Weiss, who was attempting to keep a haughty look on her face despite the much more pronounced paleness to her complexion. "But…Mister Sun's words ring with logic-" With that, the mechanoid stepped back, her blade retracting as it transformed back into a hand. "-so, I shall stand down for now." She bowed slightly to Weiss. "Apologies for the inconvenience, Miss Weiss."

"You call threatening someone's life an inconvenience?!" sputtered Weiss as she staggered away from the mechanoid, pointed an irate finger at her. "You really need to have your circuits looked at if you think that's merely an 'inconvenience'!"

"What's this about someone threatening my sister's life?" a cool voice suddenly interrupted their argument.

At the familiarity of the voice, Weiss cringed and slowly looked in the direction that it had come from.

"H-hello, sister…" she said meekly, looking into the piercing blue eyes if Winter Schnee, her older sister.

"You and your friends seem to have quite the explaining to do," Winter informed her younger sister.

Weiss groaned and put her head in her hands. "Oh great…"

_One hour later…_

"So, let me get this straight…you're saying that that girl-" General Ironwood pointed through the glass of an interrogation room at Tiir, who was sitting dejectedly in the sole chair in the room, as he spoke to Weiss and the others. "-claims to have taken a discarded Atlesian Knight 130, got it to work and then upgraded it to with her semblance to the point that it could take on a Paladin, the new peak of military technology?" He glared at Weiss. "Is that right?"

"Er, yes sir, that's how she explained it," Weiss replied nervously.

"And she then also proceeded to repair and reprogram that same Paladin the converted 130 apparently mopped the floor with after she had incapacitated it?" Ironwood growled in continuation. "So now the Paladin will only recognize her, and her alone, as its owner?"

"Well, to be fair we didn't know that it would fire on the knight that tried to arrest her, sir," Ruby spoke up, shrinking back a bit when Ironwood turned his glare on her. "A-and in her defense she immediately told it to power down…"

"Yes, where it still remains due to the fact that it no longer obeys any orders or signals we attempt to give it!" Ironwood sighed and massaged his eyes as he shook his head in frustration. "Did I miss anything?"

"Er…she's really sorry?" Ruby attempted a winning smile which quickly faded at Ironwood's increased ire aimed in her direction.

The general grunted. "The only reason that I haven't thrown her behind bars is because Doctor Pietro Polendina is insisting on meeting her…" He glanced at a clock on the nearby wall. "In fact, he should be here any second."

"Wait…Polendina…?" Ruby muttered under her breath at the vaguely familiar name.

Even as the young leader of Team RWBY pondered, the door to the room where they were discussing the earlier events was practically thrown off its hinges as an older man in a hovering chair burst inside.

"Where's the girl, general?" the man, who the others assumed was Doctor Polendina, asked eagerly.

When Ironwood gestured at the one-way glass window where Tiir could be seen fidgeting the doctor quickly left, a second later barging into view in the interrogation room.

"Eek…!" Tiir squeaked, jumping in fright at both the noise and sight of the chair-bound man. "Who are you?"

"Very excited to meet you, young lady!" Doctor Polendina exclaimed, moving his chair so that he was mere inches away from the slightly cowering faunus. "Oh…and by that, I mean my name is Doctor Pietro Polendina, inventor and consultant for the Atlas military on all things technological!" He grabbed Tiir's hand and shook it vigorously. "Now, I hear that you have a most remarkable semblance!"

Tiir blinked. "Er…y-yes…"

"Please, may I see it in action?" Doctor Polendina practically pleaded.

"I-I…I don't know…" At this point, the fur on Tiir's tail was standing on end and her wolf ears were pressed flat against her head in agitation.

The doctor placed a drone that he produced from a bag strapped to the back of his chair on the table beside the faunus. "If you were lacking some form of technology to manipulate, by all means use this!"

The girl glanced uncertainly between the widely smiling doctor and the drone before hesitantly raising a hand. A moment later the drone separated into a swirl of circuitry and metal, reforming into the shape of a robotic bird that flapped onto Tiir's shoulder and settled there.

Doctor Polendina's eyes gleamed with fascination and he adjusted his glasses as he leaned forward for a better view. "Absolutely marvelous, young lady!" he gushed. "Yes, this is most impressive indeed!"

"U-um, could you please move back a little bit, sir?" Tiir mumbled, leaning as far back in her chair as it would allow. "It's just…if Val senses my discomfort rise, she may very well try to…violently incapacitate you."

"Ah yes, the other most remarkable subject brought in today," Doctor Polendina nodded eagerly, and to Tiir's relief the older man moved back…a few centimeters. "Tell me, is she truly sentient?"

"I-I don't really know?" Tiir replied hesitantly. She frowned slightly. "I've never actually really thought about it; she's always just been there for me, except when I have to deconstruct her for easier transportation."

"Mmm, I can imagine with your semblance transporting a heavy mechanoid such as Val would quite easy, eh?" Doctor Polendina grinned. He clapped his hands together. "Oh, I simply must insist that you become my assistant!"

"W-What?" Tiir cried incredulously. "B-but you do know that I've hacked into the SDC servers and practically stolen blueprints to their latest mechanoids, don't you? Why would you want to hire me after that?"

The doctor waved his hand dismissively. "Psh, as far as I'm concerned that's all water under the bridge. Besides, you're not going to use your gift for world domination, are you?" Tiir emphatically shook her head. "Then I don't see why I shouldn't ignore what you've done in the past. What I do want to do is offer you a future!"

As Tiir stared at the old man in front of her, her jaw slack in complete shock, General Ironwood barged into the room, but to Tiir's surprise he was joined by an unfamiliar man with silver hair, glasses and sipping what appeared to be a cup of tea.

"Doctor, what the hell do you think you're doing, offering this criminal a position as your assistant?!" he demanded. "What she's done…!"

"Now you listen here, James," the doctor interrupted, raising a finger sternly. "This young lady has shown clear remorse for her previous actions and her abilities should not be left to rot in some cell like you clearly have planned for her!"

"Now see here, doctor; I have granted you quite a bit of leniency already due to your work but if you think that I'm going to allow this…!" Once again however, the general was cut off but this time by the silver haired man.

"What could be the harm, James?" he asked calmly. "As the good doctor has said, the girl appears to have a good head on her shoulders; if he believes that she can be redeemed for her past actions I say let him have this."

Ironwood spluttered in consternation. "That's…Ozpin…you…!" He let out a huff. "Even if I agreed to let her go without a serious punishment, she's still untested!" He pointed an accusing finger at the main source of his current headache. "She's a civilian that is being offered a position of extreme importance!"

"Then by all means, test her," Ozpin replied evenly. "If that is what it will take to assuage your doubts, then allow her the chance to do so."

"Um, do I get a say in this…?" Tiir interjected meekly, cringing when all three adults looked at her with raised eyebrows. "S-sorry…I'll be quiet now…"

Ironwood glanced between the smug doctor and the tiny smirk that he knew was on Ozpin's face, before eventually throwing his hands into the air in irritation.

"FINE! Have her at Amity Colosseum in ten minutes!" he growled. "And she is not to have any help from that psychotic mechanoid or that stubborn Paladin!" He then smirked. "Oh, and she's not allowed to use her semblance to take over anything in the stadium; it's supposed be a test of her character apparently and nothing else." With that, the general stomped out of the room.

Ozpin and Doctor Polendina shared an amused look before a small sigh had them glancing at Tiir, who had slumped down into her chair.

"No Val, no semblance…oh, biscuits…" she groaned.

"This seems incredibly unfair," Ruby complained as she and her team, along with Sun, Neptune and Professor Ozpin, sat in the near empty seats of Amity Colosseum. "Professor Ozpin, isn't there something you can do about this?"

"I'm afraid that, as convincing as I can be, General Ironwood is set on this being her 'test of character'," Ozpin replied, shrugging. "Although I am quite relieved that that Val person isn't present to watch this."

"Yeah, she might threaten to kill me again," Weiss muttered.

"Ah, Tiir wouldn't have really let her do that, Ice Queen," Yang said cheerfully, leaning against the railing as she watched the literally tiny form of the wolf faunus pacing nervously in the stadium below. The brawler smirked. "Besides, she's got more to her semblance than just being a technology dominatrix."

At this, Ozpin looked over at Yang with interest. "And what do you mean by that, Miss Xiao Long?"

"Oh…er, just that Tiir can apparently make flaming boulders fall from the sky." She grinned at the memory of how they had first encountered the timid faunus. "It was really cool!"

Ozpin froze at her words. "What did you just say?"

Before Yang could explain further a horn sounded, signaling the start of Ironwood's test.

"Okay, t-time to get started!" Tiir stuttered, reaching down to unclip her chakrams. Unfortunately, she had neglected to remember that, due to the fact General Ironwood hadn't known her weapons were currently integrated with Val, he had understandably never given them back. "Oh, heck…!"

She then let out a shriek as a Paladin, clearly a different mech than the one piloted by Roman, came crashing through one of the small stone hills dotted around the battlefield.

"Sorry kid, but the general ordered us to take no prisoners!" the pilot informed her.

The mech then proceeded to fire lasers from its main armaments at the faunus, who dived out of the way just in time. It swung around, firing a swarm of missiles in a wide area to keep the pressure on.

"Why did I agree to thiiiiis?" Tiir wailed as she ran. "Oh wait, I didn't!"

She skidded to a halt in horror as two more Paladin's stomped into view, all three of the mechs now surrounding her and pointing their cannons at her.

"Alright boys let's wrap this up," the pilot of the first Paladin sighed. "Low power; don't want to accidentally kill her. What a waste of our time…" With that, the three Paladins fired at the faunus simultaneously and Tiir disappeared in a cloud of dust. "Well, that's all boys," the pilot grunted and turned his Paladin around to join his fellows on their way out of the stadium.

Before they had gone more than a few meters, a grunt made them all turn. To their surprise and amazement Tiir was standing, none the worse for wear, in the middle of the crater caused by the discharge of their weapons.

"What the hell…?" one of the pilots exclaimed. "That kind of firepower would have leveled an entire city block!"

"Too bad…I'm not a…block…!" Tiir panted. She then paused. "That…sounded way cooler in my head."

"How in the world did you manage to survive that?" another pilot asked, sounding slightly impressed. "It can't have been your Aura since it hasn't even budged an inch." He used the hand of his Paladin to point up at a huge TV screen that showed the aura levels of whoever was in the stadium; despite the massive combined attack of the three mechs Tiir's aura had indeed not moved.

"L-Let me show you!" Tiir replied, attempting to be intimidating by drawing herself up to her full height.

Obviously, her attempt left little to no impact.

Blushing slightly at the less than stellar results of her tough girl act, the faunus instead leapt into the air. As the pilots looked up to track her progress those in the stands especially Ozpin who leapt to his feet in shock, let out a gasp as the petite faunus was surrounded by a tornado of rocks and lightning.

Eyes glowing brightly beneath her goggles, clear even to those in the stands, Tiir formed an electrified rock wall and launched it at one of the Paladins.

"Oh, shit!" the pilot swore, his mech far too slow to avoid the attack.

Gracefully directing the lightning rock wall Tiir encased the Paladin with it, quickly shortening out its circuitry and rendering it motionless beneath its sparking prison.

Without slowing down, the faunus twirled in mid-air before punching up with her fist when she was facing another Paladin. The pilot inside let out a yelp as the ground beneath him erupted skywards, taking the mech with it. Ozpin's eyes looked straight up as the sky, visible through Amity Colosseum's open roof, darkened unnaturally as storm clouds began gathering.

"Of all places…and in all scenarios…this is how I find one?" he breathed to himself, chuckling ruefully.

As Ruby and the others spared a second to glance at the professor, their attention was regained when Tiir slashed her arm down in the direction of the Paladin on the pillar of earth. In response a storm of lightning and ice crashed down, tearing one of the mech's arms clean from its body. The faunus was careful to aim her attack in such a way that the pilot's cockpit was untouched.

With only one Paladin remaining Tiir settled for charging a gigantic, jagged ball of ice, protecting herself from the pilot's desperate attempts to stop her with powerful blades of wind. When she was satisfied with the size of her ice-ball she topped it off by electrified it, much to the horror of the pilot inside the mech.

"You may want to get out, sir!" she hollered at the pilot.

When she saw the man practically kick out the cockpit's canopy and dive out of the way, Tiir flung the ball of electrified ice towards the now pilotless Paladin. As soon as it made contact with the mech, the ball exploded in a burst of ice and lightning.

Floating back down to the ground, now littered with small craters from stray lightning strikes, Tiir collapsed to her knees and let out a shaky breath.

"I-I never want to do that again…!" she mumbled, holding a hand to her chest as she began wheezing due to her exertions. "I really hope I can get my stuff back now…I think I'm gonna need an extra dose…"

In the stands, and as Team RWBY, Sun and Neptune let out varying degrees of excitement at Tiir's victory, Ozpin sat back down slowly in his seat, a small smile on his face as he gazed intensely at the faunus who was helped to her feet by a smirking pilot and patted on the back by another.

"_Well, well…it seems that my decision to bail Team RWBY out of their predicament bore an unexpected fruit…" _he thought to himself. _"You and I have quite a lot of things to discuss in the near future, Miss Tiir Neve…"_

_Until next time, thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_So, I recently found out that there was already a confirmed Winter maiden in the show (spoilers), must really catch up on the later seasons, so I should probably say that this fanfic is more than just a slight AU. More a medium AU, just replacing Fria with Tiir (and her mother) as the Winter Maiden obviously. Whether or not I have Tiir take control of the Relic of Creation is undecided, considering where it is._

[]

Chapter Two- With great power etcetera…

"How was I supposed to know she was a maiden?" Ironwood growled as he stormed through the hallways of Amity Colosseum, Ozpin at his side. "It's not like she was in any hurry to say anything about herself!"

"Even so, having three Paladins test her was going too far, James," Ozpin reprimanded the general. "Especially after you'd told her she couldn't take her assistant or use her semblance."

"Technically she still used a semblance," Ironwood muttered mulishly under his breath. Ozpin, hearing this, smirked. "Fine, what she did wasn't exactly a semblance, I'll give her that."

"In any case, this still managed to be far more successful than I could ever have imagined," the Beacon headmaster continued. "To think we'd stumble upon a maiden the way we did; quite remarkable."

"Which one do you think she is?"

Ozpin frowned thoughtfully. "Without exposing her to each of the three relics, except for the Relic of Choice obviously, we won't really know."

The general grunted as they stopped before a door leading into a secluded room. "Guess we can just ask her since we have no other options," he said.

"And if she doesn't even know what a maiden is?" Ozpin pointed out, stopping Ironwood from opening the door for the moment. "Look at what we've seen of her so far; she is most clearly a maiden, that much is certain, and yet she also used her abilities openly and without second-thought. Ever since they were forced into hiding, the maidens have done just that; hide themselves and their powers." Ozpin waved a hand to emphasize his point. "What we have on the other side of that door is a young girl who may very well just assume her elemental powers are another semblance and doesn't see, nor even know about, the danger she puts herself in whenever she uses them."

"Will she even believe us when we tell her the truth?" Ironwood asked doubtfully. "It took us a while to convince Amber, if you'll recall."

Ozpin shrugged. "We won't know until we try, so shall we?" He gestured towards the door, indicating for Ironwood to proceed.

"Hmph, you're the one that stopped me…" Ironwood muttered but opened the door nonetheless and strode inside with the headmaster.

Inside they found Tiir nervously sitting on a couch in what was a private viewing box for special guests to Amity Colosseum. The faunus's head whipped around when the two adults entered the room and she visibly stiffened.

"Er…a-are you going to tell me my fate now?" she mumbled. "Did I pass the test or not?"

Ozpin smiled, taking the lead in the questioning before Ironwood could open his mouth, and nodded. "Yes, you passed with flying colors, Miss Neve," he informed her. As Tiir let out a long sigh of relief, he studied her for a moment. "How old are you, Miss Neve?"

"Uh…seventeen…"

"And where were you born?"

A sad look passed across Tiir's face for a split-second before she replied. "Outside Mantle…" At encouragement from Ozpin, missing the significant look that the headmaster shot at Ironwood, she elaborated. "My family lived a few miles from Mantle, in a small cottage." This time, the two adults could clearly hear the sadness in the girl's voice and see it in her eyes.

"May I ask…what happened to your parents?" Ozpin asked gently.

Tiir took a breath before replying. "When I was about five, a pack of ursa discovered our home. My dad tried to hold them off long enough for my mom to escaped with me but…but he didn't last very long against all of the ursa…" She gulped but continued. "My mom…she hid me in a log and told me not to come out, for anything…the last thing I remember of her was her face as snow began to fall." The faunus wiped her eyes. "When I couldn't hear any sounds of fighting anymore, I came out of the log and saw my parents' bodies…and an ursa that had managed to survive. I was terrified, especially when it tried to kill me, but I guess I managed to unlock my semblance, my first one anyway, at that moment because I think I shot an icicle at it and killed it…it's been years so the specific details at that point are kinda fuzzy, sorry."

"That's alright," Ozpin assured her before glancing at the general. "Could you excuse us for a moment?" When Tiir nodded, he took Ironwood back outside and carefully closed the door. "So, what do you think?" he asked quietly.

"It sounds like her mother may have also been a Maiden," Ironwood suggested. "And when she died, the powers transferred to her daughter, who she was probably thinking about at the end."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Ozpin nodded. "She may have also confirmed she could be the Winter Maiden."

"Mind explaining?"

"The simple fact that she was living that close to Mantle, and therefore Atlas," Ozpin explained. "Each relic faintly calls to the maiden associated with it, even if the maiden doesn't know it. It could be that Tiir's mother settled in Atlas because of this unknowingly, which is where the Relic of Creation is and as we both know the guardian of that relic is the maiden of Winter."

"Which means she's Atlas' maiden," Ironwood commented thoughtfully.

Ozpin shot the other man a look. "No maiden belongs to a specific kingdom, James. Though I will admit that it would be ironic, if that were the case, that the maiden of Atlas was a faunus."

"Hmph, you may have a point there," Ironwood agreed reluctantly. "I will freely admit that the case of faunus in my kingdom leaves much to be desired."

"It's not as if you are the only human who is responsible for such conditions, nor even the one held the most responsible for it," Ozpin reminded him. He then moved back to the larger subject at hand. "Back to the subject of Miss Neve, I believe that it would be beneficial if she were to enroll in Beacon so that I may tutor her in the responsibilities of being a maiden."

"You are the best person for that," Ironwood nodded grudgingly. "Though I will be expecting to be included in some capacity since she is the maiden tied to the relic I'm responsible for. At the very least, I would appreciate reports on her progress, if she even agrees to this."

"I can be very persuasive, James, as you very well know," Ozpin grinned. "And those terms sound more than reasonable." He then gestured at the door. "Shall we go back now and change the life of a young girl forever?"

"You make that sound very ominous, Ozpin," Ironwood remarked.

A serious look appeared on the headmaster's face briefly. "That's because it is."

With that, the two men walked back into the room and closed the door.

[]

Tiir, who was now standing near the window looking down over the stadium below, looked around when she heard the door open again. Ozpin smiled at her, the faunus returning it with her own small upturning of her mouth, and quickly sat back down on the couch opposite of the two men.

Ozpin gathered his thoughts before locking eyes with the young faunus. "Well, the general and I have decided on what to do with you, Miss Neve." The ancient man paused dramatically, smiling slightly when he saw Tiir start to fidget nervously again under his gaze. "As a reward for succeeding in James's test, and as a punishment to him for subjecting you to it in the first place-," here he threw a wide grin at the general who glared right back. "-I am offering you a place at Beacon Academy, at which I happen to be the headmaster. What do you say?"

Tiir stared at Ozpin, slack-jawed, before blurting out, "I think you're insane!" She blushed before continuing on in a more measured tone. "I-I mean…why would you do that? I thought the test was to see if I was good enough to become that weirdo Doctor Polendina's assistant?"

Ozpin smirked at the way Tiir described the doctor briefly. "Yes, well, in light of the abilities that you showed during your test your situation has changed."

"You mean because I'm a dual-semblance user?"

"Actually, you only have one semblance; your ability to control technology." At Tiir's confused look the headmaster took a breath before leaning forward. "Tell me, my dear, do you believe in magic?"

And with that, Ozpin and Ironwood proceeded to change the life of a young girl forever…

[]

Almost an hour later, Tiir slumped back against the couch, eyes wide with shock. Ozpin watched her carefully, waiting for a response to what the girl had just learned about the wider world.

"Um…are you s-sure I'm one of these 'maidens'?" Tiir eventually asked shakily. "I-I mean, I could just be a dual-semblance wielder with a semblance maiden-like?" She sounded hopeful that her last question might be true.

"I'm afraid not, Miss Neve," Ozpin shook his head, though he spoke kindly. "True, there are some semblances out there related to elemental control, but none that involve EVERY element and with as much control over them as you have. However, the biggest indicator of your heritage is the fact that you don't have to use dust to power your abilities."

"Oh…yeah, that would be kind of telling from what I've heard…" Tiir covered her face with her hands then and let out a dejected groan. "B-but I didn't ask to be a maiden! I don't want to be hunted down because I received a power that wasn't even mine to begin with!" She let out a small sob. "I don't want to DIE because of it!"

Ozpin quickly got up and sat back down next to the distressed faunus, putting an arm around her comfortingly. "I know, but that's why I'm here, Tiir; I swear that if you enroll into my academy that I will guide and protect you to the best of my, admittedly, formidable ability. No harm will come to you with me there to look after you."

"Is that what you promised Amber?" Tiir demanded, jumping up from the couch and pacing around the room in agitation, her tail shaking behind her madly. "How can I believe you when you've already failed one maiden?"

The headmaster sighed. "True, I should have kept a more watchful eye on Amber and not let her travel with only one guard." He stood up then and adjusted his glasses. "But because of the unfortunate incident with Amber I will not make that same mistake again because I cannot afford to." Ozpin placed himself in front of Tiir and put a hand on her shoulder. "Please, let me help you survive in the world you now know exists." Tiir looked up at the silver haired man, eyes narrowed as she searched his own. Ozpin didn't blink once as she did, determined to get through to her his sincerity.

Eventually, the faunus's ears and tail relaxed and a small cautious smile briefly appeared on her lips. "Okay…say that I agree to this, what would you expect me to do?" she asked carefully.

"Nothing, except train under myself and Professor Glynda and Qrow Branwen, two reliable allies that you will meet later," Ozpin replied easily. "We would largely focus on making you ready to face the Half-Maiden and, though I hope it doesn't come down to it, Salem herself while at the same time making sure that your existence doesn't get out to any undesirables." He smiled ruefully then. "Though I will admit, from what you've told us that may be more difficult than maidens in the past. I must say that it's miraculous that you haven't already been found out in the twelve years you've been a maiden."

"Not my fault I didn't know I had to keep it secret," Tiir mumbled. "And it's not like I used the elemental stuff anywhere near a populated settlement; I may have had to basically raise myself but as my powers grew, I knew that the potential collateral damage I could cause would grow with it." She shrugged. "I was already resigned to having to steal and hack my way to survive, I didn't want to add accidental murder to my list of crimes."

"More evidence that you are suited to be a maiden," Ozpin smiled.

"I do have one request though…" At Ozpin's encouraging smile, Tiir looked down awkwardly at the hand that was still on her shoulder. "C-could you perhaps please take your hand off me?"

Ironwood snorted with poorly concealed amusement as Ozpin hurriedly took his hand off Tiir's shoulder and adjusted his glasses awkwardly with it.

"Ah yes, apologies, Miss Neve, I forgot about your…"

Before the headmaster could continue, the door to the viewing box was suddenly destroyed as Val burst into the room. She searched around briefly before her eyes locked onto Tiir, who was standing frozen in front of the two men, before she switched her gaze to them.

"Hostiles detected, moving to eliminate," the mechanoid declared in her dead-pan voice. Her hands transformed into blades and she made to jump towards the nearest 'hostile', that being Ozpin. "Prepare yourself, villain, and pray for my non-existent mercy."

"VAL! What have I said about leaping to violent conclusions?" Tiir whined, stepping in front of the headmaster with her hands on her hips sternly.

Val paused at this display from her creator. "Oh…are they not in fact torturing you, Miss Neve?"

"What? No! Why would you think that anyway?"

The mechanoid, her hands returning to their usual form, sidled up to Tiir. "Is it not customary for humans to torture faunus? According to some of the files from the SDC servers, which I have totally not rifled through by the way, it seems that that is the case."

"Well…I don't know about the SDC, but not all humans hate faunus…probably," Tiir assured her robotic companion. She grinned sheepishly at Ironwood. "Just so you know, I didn't teach her that…"

Ironwood sighed and waved a dismissive hand tiredly. "Think nothing of it, Miss Neve, though I would suggest that you do teach her common social etiquette." He indicated the now doorless doorframe. "After all, not everybody will simply ignore property destruction like I am forced to do in this moment. Just bear that in mind." He then frowned. "And I shall have a world with Jacques Schnee about updating his online security, as well as the Atlas Military's own."

"S-sorry…"

Shaking his head, the general dusted down his coat before nodding to Ozpin. "Well, since we've all come to an agreement, I shall go and set up the necessary identification for Miss Neve since she'll need it if we're to make her transference to Beacon believable." At Ozpin's impressed look, Ironwood smirked. "You aren't the only one who can think ahead, Ozpin."

"So I see," Ozpin chuckled, shaking the general's proffered hand before other man strode out of the room.

Just as the general was about to walk out of view, he paused and stuck his head back through the doorway. "Oh, and since that damned Paladin won't listen to anything my people order it to anymore, I suppose it belongs to you now, Miss Neve. But please try not to make a habit of doing that, please."

"S-sure, General Ironwood," Tiir mumbled, looking down at feet in embarrassment. "Though to be fair, it didn't exactly belong to Atlas at the time that I repurposed it…"

"That's…I suppose a good point…" The general then smirked. "Another thing, since you're the one that took Miss Neve from him Ozpin, you're the one that has to tell Pietro about the change of plans!"

Ozpin blinked but before he could protest the general had already hurried away. "Damn, that's going to be awkward," the headmaster sighed.

[]

_End of this chapter, but here's a brief bonus one-shot that may be a precursor to others at the end of future chapters thrown in for fun._

_This particular one focusses on the fact that Tiir, while I may not have made it obvious before, is slightly 'bigger' than Yang in certain regards…_

Bonus One- Yang gets envious

"Seriously, how can _my _bras not be big enough for you?" Yang growled as she held up one of her bras, sourly noting the fact that the straps were quite obviously stretched.

Tiir guiltily moved over to the bed where her shirt and jacket where laid out. "Sorry, Yang. From what little I remember of my mother, I think hers were bigger than mine, so maybe it's a genetics thing?"

"Yeah, but you're also shorter than Ruby! Not by much, admittedly, but still!" Yang jabbed an irritated finger at the faunus. "You're basically half boob!"

"I-I really don't think I'm THAT much bigger than you…"

"And you're like the most adorable thing ever!" Yang groaned ignoring Tiir's words, slumping on her back on the bed. "You don't dress risqué, you're the shyest person I've ever met, and that includes Ruby, and you blush at the slightest hint of lewdness!" She looked up and glared at the faunus, who was indeed sporting red cheeks. "See, you're doing it now! How can someone so…so…CUTE exist and be completely dense to that fact?"

"S-sorry…" Tiir mumbled, shuffling her feet.

"Just…just promise me that you'll leave _some _cute guys for me after you figure out you're a weapon of mass destruction?" Yang sighed.

"_More so than being a maiden makes me anyway…"_ Tiir sighed in her head. Out loud, she said, "P-Promise…"

Yang grunted and got up. "Good…now let's just go down into Vale. Clearly nothing here is gonna fit…"

With that, the two girls left, completely unaware that there had been a furiously blushing Blake in the corner reading a book the entire time…ironically reading one of her not-smut-but-definitely-smut books…


	4. Chapter 4

_Before I forget, which I did manage to do so in the very first chapter (prologue) of this story, I got Tiir's name from the Irish 'mac tire', which means wolf, and her last name, Neve, is the literal word for 'snow' in Italian. Google translate, I thank you._

[]

Chapter Three- Maidens and Mechs

_Two days after Tiir's test…_

"So, today's the day we introduce our new student," Glynda Goodwitch commented as she stood beside Ozpin in his clockwork tower. The two of them were looking down at the students that were slowly making their way around the academy grounds.

"Indeed," Ozpin nodded, taking a sip from his cup.

Glynda was silent for a few moments before she suddenly smacked the headmaster on the back of the head. "And you didn't think to tell me that this was happening earlier?" she growled. "Nor the fact that she was a _maiden_?! No, you thought that it would be a brilliant idea to inform me of these little facts THE DAY that she is supposed to arrive!"

"Er…at least I told you before her initiation?" Ozpin spluttered, coughing slightly due to Glynda's smack having made him swallow his coffee awkwardly.

His second in command sighed. "I suppose what's done is done. What did you have planned for her initiation? We can't exactly risk her going out into the Emerald Forest." At the guilty look that appeared on Ozpin's face she stared at him sternly. "That's exactly what she's going to be doing, isn't it?"

"Now relax, Glynda, do you honestly think I'd let her go there without back-up?" he asked, attempting a reassuring smile. "Even if she's not allowed to use her maiden abilities, have you really forgotten what her semblance is?"

"No, because YOU HAVEN'T TOLD ME THAT EITHER!" Glynda snapped. "All you said, a few minutes ago mind you, was 'oh, by the way Glynda, I'm introducing a new student today and she's a maiden'!"

"Well…I'm fairly certain I went into a little more detail than that…" Ozpin mumbled.

"Not the point!"

The headmaster quickly out his hands in defense. "Okay, I will admit that I should probably have told you sooner but, in my defense, I've finalizing all the details of Tiir's enrolment into Beacon with James for the past two days and I…forgot..."

Glynda took a deep, calming breath, before she asked, "So what is her semblance?"

"Quite an amazing one actually; she can control anything technological," Ozpin explained. "She's assisted by this remarkable Atlesian Knight 130 that has been upgraded to the point that it could take on a Paladin in hand to hand combat, and who also happens to be quite terrifying when she thinks her creator is in danger, and now James has been forced to give her one of their Paladins because she reprogrammed the one that went on a rampage a few days ago!" He chuckled. "This year has certainly had its interesting moments."

"So, she will have this Knight to help her in her trial?" Glynda asked and Ozpin nodded. "Well, it better be as good as you say it is."

"'She', Glynda; while Val may not seem like she has any emotions or sentience, I suspect that there may be more to her than meets the eye thanks to Tiir's tinkering."

"Be that as it may, shall we go down there now?" Glynda asked, slipping into her professional temperance now. "It's almost time."

"Ah, yes, we should probably do that," Ozpin agreed, taking one last sip from his cup before making his way to the elevator that led down his tower. "Let's not keep our new student, and our current ones, waiting!"

[]

"Ergh, why is Professor Ozpin getting us to assemble in the…uh…assembly hall this early in the morning," Yang yawned as she sat down on a chair next to her teammates.

"No idea but I bet it's got something to do with the festival!" Ruby replied excitedly.

"How do you figure that out, sis?"

"Oh…well, I have no idea, but it's got to be about that right?" Ruby said uncertainly. "I mean, the first round of the tournament is happening in only a few days so I dunno what else they'd want to talk about."

"Be quiet you two, Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch are here!" Weiss hissed, indicating at the stage.

Team RWBY looked up and saw that Ozpin had indeed taken to the stage, clearing his throat to gain the attention of the mass of gathered students.

"Thank you…now, I'm sure that you are all wondering why you have been called here on short notice," Ozpin began once an attentive silence had fallen on the hall. "Worry not, dear students, for the answer shall make herself known…now!"

With a showman's flourish, Ozpin swept his hand back towards the left hand side of the stage. A few awkward moments of even deeper silence passed before Tiir slowly shuffled her way across the stage to stand next to Beacon's headmaster, her wolf ears flat against her head as she played with the tip of her long fluffy tail nervously.

"I am very pleased to inform you that, as a show of good faith, General Ironwood is allowing one of his brightest students to transfer here!" The headmaster grinned and put a hand on Tiir's shoulder, much to her discomfort. "This young lady is Tiir Neve, and I hope that you will all make her feel welcome here, even though it may be unusual for her to transfer to Beacon so late in the year." Ozpin waited for the expected murmuring in response to his announcement to die down before continuing. "Now, she may be seventeen, but she will not be joining the first years, or any of your teams, at least not permanently. Instead, she will be mainly assisting select teams on their missions, at my discretion, and when not will be aiding Professor Goodwitch with combat classes."

"Huh…when Ozpin made us swear not to tell anyone about her or her abilities this was not what I was expecting," Blake murmured.

"Hmph, as long as she keeps that psychotic robot away from me, I have no problem with her being here," Weiss grumbled.

"I can see a few people who have a problem with her already though," Ruby said sadly, pointing to the group of boys who made up Team CRDL and who all had disgusted looks on their faces.

Yang cracked her knuckles at the sight. "If they try anything, they'll taste a full course of Yang justice! Tiir is adorable and must be protected!" She looked apologetically at her sister. "I mean, you're still more adorable, Rubes, but she definitely comes in a close second."

Ruby giggled. "I don't mind, but what I'm most excited about is seeing more of her semblances! Especially the one that lets her control robots!"

"Ruby, keep it down!" Weiss hissed. "You remember what Professor Ozpin said, Blake even pointed it out before!"

[]

_A few minutes after Tiir's life changed…_

"_I'm glad that you could spare a moment of your time, girls," Ozpin said as Team RWBY sat down across from him._

_After Tiir had succeeded in her test Ruby and her team had been eagerly waiting to talk to her but had been headed off by Ozpin gesturing for them to join him in an empty room._

"_It's no trouble, professor!" Ruby replied cheerfully. "Um, do you know where Tiir went though? We kinda want to talk to her about that amazing performance she put on!"_

"_That's partly why I need to speak with you," the headmaster said, smiling slightly at Ruby's exuberance. "You see, what you witnessed today was a rather special young lady with a very rare case; she is in fact a dual-semblance wielder, the first since the Great War. As such, I'm afraid that I must ask you to swear never to reveal this to anyone!" He fixed them all with a serious gaze. "I don't think I have to tell you that if anyone nefarious found out about Tiir, they may very likely try and kidnap her for their own ends. Understood?"_

"_Of course, sir, we understand perfectly," Weiss nodded quickly, shooting a glare at her teammates who all quickly mirrored her action. "You can be rest assured that I…I mean WE…won't tell anyone about this."_

"_Excellent!" Ozpin smiled gratefully. "Now, I've wasted enough of your time, so why don't you all go and enjoy the rest of your day." As her team made to leave, Ruby hesitantly waited behind. "Yes, Ruby? Did you need to ask anything else?"_

"_Y-yeah…what's gonna happen to Tiir now?" the young team leader asked quickly._

_Ozpin smiled mischievously at her. "Now, that would be spoiling the surprise, wouldn't it? What I can tell you is that you might see Tiir again sooner than you think…"_

[]

"Ohh, so that's what he meant!" Ruby said, realization dawning on her as she thought back to the brief bit that her team hadn't been present for.

"What are ya talking about, Rubes?" Yang asked.

Ruby grinned sheepishly. "Erm, just that Professor Ozpin might have actually hinted at this happening when I stayed behind briefly at Amity." At the questioning looks sent at her from her teammates, she shrugged. "He told me that I might see Tiir 'sooner than I expected' or something like that."

"Yes, that probably would have been a clue as to what he had planned," Blake nodded.

Their attentions where then returned to the stage where Ozpin was finishing his speech.

"-and so Miss Neve shall be undertaking her very own initiation." Ozpin smiled around at the many students before him. "I do hope that you enjoy the show!"

"W-wait, they'll _all _be watching?" Tiir squeaked, letting out a little cry as she accidentally twisted a knot in the fur of her tail. Red-faced, she quickly let her tail drop and looked back up at Ozpin with a panicked expression on her face. "D-do they have to?"

"Of course! What better way for them to see what you can do!" The headmaster then gently pushed the faunus towards Glynda, who clamped a hand on her shoulder. "Now go and make it entertaining!"

With one last distressed glance over her shoulder at the headmaster, Tiir reluctantly allowed herself to be led out of the hall by Glynda.

[]

"Why did I agree to this?" Tiir groaned.

"You get used to it when dealing with that buffoon, Miss Neve," Glynda replied, sounding slightly sympathetic towards the faunus's plight. "My only advice is to simply resist the urge to punch him in his foolishly grinning face."

Tiir giggled slightly, eliciting a small smile in response from the usually cold professor and they continued down to the launchpads overlooking Emerald Forest in relative silence.

"Stand here please, Miss Neve," Glynda instructed the young faunus, indicating the nearest pad.

Tiir nervously complied, shifting from foot to foot as she waited for her next order. "Um, by the way Professor Goodwitch, how exactly am I getting down there? Oh, and where's Val?"

"Right here, Miss Neve," Val's calm voice sounded unexpectedly from beside Tiir, who jumped. "Oh, apologies Miss Neve."

"I-I'm fine, Val, just wasn't expecting you to pop up like that," Tiir admitted weakly. "Just…don't deliberately approach in stealth mode like that. How many times do I have to ask you?"

Val bowed, though Tiir was sure she heard a small chuckle. "I shall endeavor to make my approaches more noticeable, Miss Neve, but if I were always able to be seen I would be doing a poor job as your bodyguard and companion."

Glynda cleared her throat pointedly at that moment, cutting off Tiir's reply, and said, "In answer to your first question, Miss Neve, you shall be launched to your destination. As for your trial itself, you shall be expected to retrieve an artifact from some ruins somewhere in the forest."

Tiir nodded. "Okay, sounds simple enough…" She then blinked as the first thing Glynda had said finally registered with her. "Wait…what was that first biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit?!" The faunus's words were lost amidst a scream as she was suddenly launched skywards and in the direction of the Emerald Forest below.

Glynda allowed a small smile to briefly appear on her face before she paused at the sight of Val, still standing in the same spot only now she was surrounded by scrap metal. The professor looked at the launchpad that Tiir and Val had shared and her eye twitched in annoyance when she saw that there was now a hole in it exactly where Val had been standing. It was clear to Glynda that the mechanoid had been too heavy and the launchpad had simply sprang up around her.

"Hmm…unexpected, but this shall not stop me from assisting my creator," Val commented and a moment later jumped off the edge of the cliff, leaving Glynda to shake her head in irritation.

[]

Tiir barely had time to adjust her midair trajectory before she saw the treetops rushing towards her. She shrieked and, instinctively, almost used her maiden powers to create a gust of wind to slow her descent but the headmaster's words floating though her head reminded her that it would be unwise to do so. Instead, the faunus managed to utilize her faunus reflexes to snag a vine as she fell through the trees, nearly wrenching her arm out of its socket due to the rapid decrease in speed. Fortunately, her aura was more than able to protect her.

Sighing with relief, Tiir swung on the vine for a moment before backflipping though the air and landing gracefully on the ground below. She tensed for a moment when she heard rustling in the bushes beside her but relaxed as soon as the hot pink form of Val walked into view.

"Graceful as always, Miss Neve," the mechanoid congratulated her creator.

"Thanks, Val," Tiir smiled, stretching briefly before beginning to make her way through the forest. "You ready?"

"As always. I am at peak operating efficiency and am prepared for whatever that weirdo old man has in store for us."

The faunus winced, looking up at a drone that was now following their progress. "Sorry, professor, she didn't mean that," she said to Ozpin through the drone. She then glanced back down. "Oh, I wish that we didn't have that thing following us; I'd be fine if I didn't know that there were so many people watching us."

"Do you wish for me to eliminate the pest, Miss Neve?" Val asked, eyeing the drone as it buzzed around their heads.

"No, no, that's Beacon property!" Tiir refused quickly. She then giggled briefly. "Though I wouldn't say anything if it ended up being destroyed by a grimm…"

"Objective acquired; incite a grimm to attack the drone…logged and accepted."

"I knew I could count on…wait…did you hear that?" Tiir asked tensely, her wolf ears twitching in the direction of distant growls that faintly disturbed the relative peace of the forest.

"Scanning the immediate area…confirmed, there are a number of beowolves currently stalking around us," Val replied after a moment. "Approximate numbers…twelve. Will you be requiring your weapons back, Miss Neve? I am more than able to crush the skulls of small-fries like them with my bare hands."

"That's probably a good idea, thanks."

A moment later, Val's forearms separated into small pieces and several flew towards Tiir, the remaining pieces reforming back into the mechanoid's limbs. The pieces that had made their way towards the faunus quickly took on the shape of Tiir's chakrams, which she proceeded to grip tightly as the pair continued on their way.

[]

"Woah, what the hell? Is that woman an android?"

"Damn, did you see that?"

"She's so cute!"

Ruby and the others smirked as they glanced around at their amazed fellow students.

"I think she's already causing quite the stir," Blake whispered.

"Got that right, kitty cat," Yang grinned.

[]

"Where do you think these ruins are?" Tiir asked Val quietly.

"Uncertain; I'm afraid that there is some form of interference disrupting my sensors' full capabilities in the immediate vicinity," Val replied, sounding slightly annoyed. "I suspect that that weird…I mean, PROFESSOR Ozpin has planted something to inhibit my functionality somewhat in those regards."

The faunus sighed. "I suppose that makes sense; it would be too easy if you were able to just pinpoint the ruins' location with a brief scan." She then dropped into a defensive crouch as a more audible growl rang out through the air. "Hey, about those beowolves…they're about to attack, aren't they?"

"Affirmative, Miss Neve," was all Val managed to reply with before a howling beowolf hurled itself out of the underbrush at the mechanoid who simply kicked it into the air and finished it off by crushing its skull with her boot after it landed back down at her feet. "Incidentally, the number of grimm has increased to thirty-six."

At that moment and heralded by sudden numerous howls of fury, the rest of the beowolf pack burst from hiding and charged at the two intruders into their territory.

Jumping into action, Tiir twirled away from the first beowolf that rushed at her, turning the momentum into a backwards roll between two more that had followed it. As she passed between the two grimm, the faunus sliced the razor-sharp edges of her chakram across their calves, bringing them to their knees. Ending her roll with a handstand Tiir pushed her body back up into the air and flipped. At the apex of her maneuver, she transformed her chakram into two katanas as she dropped back down to land between the two beowolves, slicing their heads off as she passed.

The entire attack had taken a mere six seconds, while nearby Val had been just as quick at crushing the ribcage of another beowolf with a single punch.

Tiir continued flowing through the pack of beowolves, gracefully dancing between her opponents as she applied countless strikes with her katanas. Two dozen grimm were reduced to shadowy wisps in the space of a few short minutes in the face of the dancing faunus.

Val, in stark contrast to her creator, was simply using her brute strength to crush her way through the remainder of the pack, caving masked skulls in with powerful punches and kicks and finishing off any grimm that Tiir left crawling in her wake.

In short order, the entire pack of beowolves had been reduced to wisps of shadow that slowly dissipated in the wind. Tiir returned her katanas back into their original chakram forms and let out a breath, wincing slightly as she felt a twinge in her chest.

"Are you alright, Miss Neve?" Val immediately asked, quickly coming to the side of her creator.

"Yeah, I'm okay; not gonna die any time soon," Tiir assured her mechanoid companion. "Let's just keep going."

"…As you wish, Miss Neve…"

[]

"Woah…that was seriously awesome!" Yang let out a whistle of appreciation. Her admiration was echoed by several students around her.

"Yeah, she and Val make an awesome team!" Ruby nodded, bouncing in her seat excitedly. "Tiir was all like 'swish swish slice' and Val was like 'punch kick smash'!"

"It does seem as if Tiir has had some form of dance instruction in her life," Weiss commented, a hint of grudging admiration in her voice. "Some of the movements I saw were similar to those of a trained dancer, a ballet dancer if I had to guess."

"It's interesting that someone so shy can fight like that," Blake chimed in. "I wonder what else we'll see of the real her?"

[]

"You know, if it wasn't for all the Grimm in it, this forest would be quite beautiful," Tiir commented as she impaled a boarbatusk through its mask.

"I suppose," Val replied evenly. "Personally, I dislike the grass and dirt getting under my casing and into my gears."

Tiir giggled. "Maybe I'll take a look at upgrading your chassis then, hmm? Make it impenetrable to that sorta stuff?"

"That would be greatly appreciated, Miss Neve."

Laughing, the faunus pushed her way through some underbrush and let out a cry of relief. In front of her, finally, was what remained of a small, ruined stone temple. Moss and weeds grew rampant and there was a single, huge tree that rose up through the collapsed roof of the main section.

"This has to be the place!" Tiir exclaimed happily, skipping forward with her tail wagging enthusiastically. "I wonder if this is the same ruin that the others had to find in their initiations?"

"Unknown; you'd have to ask someone about that."

Tiir nodded as they made their way toward the temple. Searching around, they quickly found the entrance into the temple proper and cautiously went inside. They were met with the sight of a single, white queen chess piece placed on top of a crumbling altar.

"Do…you think that's what we need to retrieve?" Tiir asked, stopping in front of the altar and looking at the chess piece.

"If it is, I may need to hurt that old man," Val stated. "Talk about a waste of time."

"Well…maybe he couldn't find anything cooler on such short notice?" Tiir suggested, picking up the queen piece and placing it carefully in a pouch on her belt. "I would assume he wouldn't pull this sort of thing for the regular initiation." Val chose not to reply, not trusting herself, instead silently following her creator as she made her way back outside.

As they exited the temple, a great roar rang through the air and the ground began to tremble.

"Hmm…why do I feel a sense of déjà vu?" Val muttered, getting into a battle-ready stance.

Tiir, briefly wondering if a mechanoid could actually feel that, before unbuckling her chakrams. "Whatever it is, we can totally take it down!" She then grimaced and in her head thought, _"Hopefully, anyway…without being able to use my maiden powers it won't be as easy as it usually is."_

"Alert; there are three separate Grimm species readings bearing down on us, Miss Neve," Val suddenly reported, gaining Tiir's attention. "Three airborne contacts, a dozen from below and approximately twenty ground moving contacts of various sizes." The mechanoid considered for a few seconds. "Going by the readings, the grimm types about to assault us in under three minutes are nevermore, death stalkers and a pack of beowolves possibly accompanied by ursai."

Tiir swallowed as she heard the last type of grimm that was incoming; ever since her parents had been killed by ursai she had suffered a fear of the bear-like grimm.

"R-right, thanks, Val," she mumbled, tightening her grip on her chakrams for security. "C-can you deal with the ursai?" The mechanoid nodded, knowing full well why her creator was leaving her with the job of dealing with those particular grimm. "Thanks…"

"Perhaps we should call on the services of that new stray you managed to pick up to deal with the nevermore?" Val suggested.

"Oh, good idea!" the faunus nodded, briefly enthusiastic. "This will be a good time to see how well the upgrades work on him!" Tiir, utilizing the link her semblance granted her with technology, sent out a silent command. After a second, she grinned. "He'll be here momentarily."

"Good, because the grimm are about to arrive, Miss Neve," Val informed the faunus just as the ground in front of them erupted.

From the earth came crawling twelve large scorpion-like grimm known as death stalkers. Their large pincers snapped menacingly while their segmented tails lashed through the air. With a screech, all twelve of the grimm wasted no time and charged towards the faunus and the mechanoid.

Tiir jumped into the air to avoid the first death stalker's stinger as Val grabbed another by its pincers, holding it in place. With a heave, the mechanoid lifted the grimm into the air and threw it towards her creator who spun in midair. Her chakrams easily cut through the thick armour of the death stalker and it took only a few seconds for the faunus to tear the grimm apart.

As the grimm's body parts began disintegrating, Tiir landed behind Val. She then used the mechanoid's back as a launchpad and rocketed horizontally to the ground towards the next death stalker. Before it could even react, the faunus had sliced its tail off and threw her twin chakrams to either side of the grimm, the deadly weapons severing its legs from its body. Finally, once the chakrams had returned to her hands, Tiir transformed them into their katana forms and drove them both straight down into the grimm's masked skull, killing it instantly.

Behind her, Val had headbutted the next death stalker that charged her, leaving cracks spiderwebbing out from the point of impact on its mask. With the grimm sent reeling the mechanoid took advantage of the opening and punched the grimm in its exposed underbelly. The death stalker let out a screech as it collapsed to the ground, a large hole in its body from the devastating punch.

"One punch, one kill," Val stated calmly, miming cracking her knuckles as she stalked towards her next target. She then paused as several shadows were cast upon the ground and looked up. "Oh, the flying pests have arrived."

Tiir briefly glanced up before she was forced to leap backwards as two death stalkers charged her simultaneously. She grinned as she felt her semblance link quiver briefly. "Don't worry; backup just arrived!"

Even as she spoke, a large shape, much larger than the others currently present, flew down from the sky and landed in a great upheaval of dirt and grass. When the debris had settled, there standing in the crater caused by the impact was the gigantic Paladin that Tiir had 'acquired' from Torchwick.

While it retained the huge size of a regular Paladin, its similarities stopped there. Now, much like Val, its coloring was a bright pink, and its form more closely resembled that of an armoured knight, being less bulky and more streamlined than a regular Paladin. Instead of cannons as its main armament, the Paladin had a huge double-headed greathammer that Tiir had converted from the excess materials that her trimming down had left. It wasn't left completely without ranged capabilities, however, since Tiir had simply moved its cannons from its arms to its shoulders. They were currently deactivated and down where its shoulder blades would be but could be automatically brought up to its shoulders when powered up.

"Atlesian Paladin 290 Tiir Variant ready for combat!" the huge mechanoid boomed as it casually squashed a death stalker with its greathammer that was foolish enough to attempt an attack. "Current objective: the obliteration of all grimm that threaten Lady Neve!"

At these words, Val stared deadpan at Tiir who blushed.

"I-I may have given him the personality of a knight…" she admitted sheepishly.

"How did you even give it an AI?" Val asked.

"Oh, Doctor Polendina gave me a spare, unprogrammed chip from an Atlesian Knight 130 when he found out what I wanted to do with the Paladin," Tiir replied, spinning away from a screeching death stalker as it continued to attack her even as she spoke. "I guess you could say that his model type is an Atlesian Knight-Paladin 420, if you wanted to combine the regular model names and numbers."

"Hmph, so long as he doesn't get in my way or causes you to be harmed, I won't have to discipline him," Val muttered, casually backhanding a death stalker aside and sending it flying.

Tiir, choosing to ignore Val's almost jealous hostility at the new member to their team, turned her attention to the towering mechanoid. "Baldr, target the nevermore, if you would."

"Affirmative, Lady Neve; the winged beasts shall be felled in your glorious name!" the Paladin, now named Baldr, declared with a hint of enthusiasm.

Tiir cringed. "Maybe I went a little overboard programming his personality…" she mumbled to herself, cheeks burning with embarrassment as she glanced at the drone.

[]

It may have made her nearly die of her embarrassment if she realized that there were quite a few sniggers at the way Baldur interacted with her, the cackles from one blonde brawler in particular being most likely the biggest contributors.

[]

Baldr's cannons moved up and several beams shot out, targeting the three airborne grimm as they flew towards the battle taking place below.

"Targets locked…fall, you foul beasts!" Kenshin boomed, his cannons firing an instant after his declaration. The force of his cannons firing, their potential greatly increased thanks to Tiir's upgrades, caused small cracks to form in the dirt under his feet.

The first two nevermore targeted by Baldr's cannons were sent spiraling towards the ground, their wings damaged beyond repair and furious shrieking coming from their beaks. The third nevermore descended faster than Baldr's cannons could recharge and it slammed into the mechanoid, attempting to tip him over. Unfortunately, the Knight-Paladin barely flinched.

"Foolish beast, this knight shall never be forced back so long as my lady is present!" Baldr declared proudly, making Tiir facepalm as she dodged attacks from three death stalkers and Val grumble as the smaller mechanoid repeatedly stomped her death stalker in the head until it died. "Know now the might of one who follows my beloved lady!"

"Oh, gods, this is so e-embarrassing!" Tiir wailed. She covered her embarrassment by slicing one of the remaining death stalkers into pieces.

Even as his creator had a mild meltdown, Baldr slammed the head of his greathammer into the ground, planting it securely, and grabbed the nevermore by both wings. With a grunt, the Knight-Paladin then proceeded to slowly tear the wings off the grimm, who shrieked in pain through the entire process and thrashed violently in an attempt to free itself. Its efforts were fruitless as Baldr eventually ripped its wings clean off. As its former appendages disintegrated, the mechanoid threw its now wingless body and picked up his greathammer.

"Perish now, in the name of…!" he began to announce but was halted when Tiir, her cheeks blazing red now, wailed, 'JUST KILL IT ALREADY!" Hearing this, the Knight-Paladin, oddly meekly, crushed the feebly twitching nevermore under his greathammer. He then turned sheepishly to Tiir. "Apologies, Lady Neve…"

"Just…please kill them without the embellishments, Baldr!" Tiir begged.

"As you wish, Lady Neve!" Baldr boomed, smacking a fist against his chest. He then turned and hefted his giant weapon once more. "With that, I shall now proceed to eliminate all remaining foes!"

"About that, the beowolves and ursai have arrived," Val piped up, killing the last death stalker with several punches to the body. She glanced at Tiir. "Do not worry, Miss Neve; I shall eradicate the ursai as instructed."

"Th-thanks…" Tiir nodded, grateful.

Val, if she were able, would have given her creator a small encouraging smile. Instead, she simply turned and punched a snarling beowolf as it launched itself towards her the minute it had burst into the clearing. Leaping over the following beowolves, the mechanoid made a beeline for the large bear-like grimm that were hot on the heels of the smaller grimm.

The two mechanoids fought their way through the grimm while Tiir took care of any that managed to slip past them. For the first few minutes it seemed as if they would be able to dispatch the beowolves and ursai without incident until Val's sensors pinged and she whirled around just in time to see a pack of five ursai, led by an ursai major, appear from behind the temple, and consequently behind Tiir.

"Miss Neve!" the mechanoid yelled out in warning and concern.

Tiir turned around just in time to see the ursai major rear up in front of her and roar. She let out a scream of terror and stumbled backwards, falling onto her rear as the ursai dropped back down to all fours and stalked towards her. In her terror, her mind had flashed back to that time nearly twelve years ago when her family had been torn apart. Her breathing became labored as her chest started to grow tight and she began wheezing as she struggled backwards.

"N-no…stay away from me!" she whimpered.

Val moved to assist her but was blocked by one of the surviving ursai of the original pack. Letting out an annoyed huff, she turned to Baldr. "Oi, you big lug, target the drone!" she demanded.

"Why?" Baldr boomed as he grappled with another ursai and a pair of beowolves.

"Just do it or so help me I will disassemble you myself!"

"Understood!" With that, one of Baldr's cannons swiveled and targeted the drone, destroying it instantly. "Objective achieved!"

"Miss Neve, the drone has been dealt with; you can use your other powers now!" Val quickly informed Tiir.

Dimly hearing this through the mists of the past that were threating to overwhelm her, the faunus blinked. She then took a few calming breaths, the tightness of her chest receding slightly and allowing her to breathe a little easier. Closing her eyes, she dragged her goggles down over them and let out a sigh of relief.

"R-right…I still need to conquer this trial…" she mumbled, rolling to the side as the ursai major struck down at her. "If I just keep my eyes closed, I can pretend that the…them…are something else…"

Resolved now, and keeping her eyes shut tight, Tiir floated into the air. Her ears flicked in the direction of the ursai major and she raised a hand in its direction. Storm clouds began gathering above her and a moment later a bolt of lightning blitzed down from the sky, striking just in front of the large bear grimm. Even as the bolt hit the ground, a dozen more followed in its wake and several of them struck the ursai major, tearing great chunks out of its hide and causing it to let out a roar of anger.

Tiir gritted her teeth at hearing the roar, but continued her attack, freezing the air around her and creating hundreds of jagged icicles. Shooting the icicles in the direction of the ursa major, her wolf ears twitched again in warning and she quickly created a wall of earth between herself and a regular ursa that had leapt towards her. She then caused the earth to collapse around the grimm and filled the resulting sphere of earth with fire, burning the ursa to death inside. Finally, she threw the ball towards the group of ursa and detonated it with a lightning bolt from the sky. There was a huge explosion that killed all the ursai in a wide area and the resulting shockwave caused one of the ruined temple walls to crumble.

The last grimm remaining that wasn't currently being squashed beneath the feet of Baldr or pummeled by Val's fists was the ursa major, which was badly singed but still attempting to crawl towards Tiir. The faunus let out a breath and summoned a gigantic spear of ice, enhancing it with lightning that sparked along its length.

"This…this is for my family!" she cried, opening her eyes at last and allowing the glow from them to shine through her goggles.

With that she launched the spear, greatly enhancing its speed with a tornado of wind that shot it down at supersonic speeds, and it pierced straight through the ursa major and buried itself deep into the ground. The grimm slumped to the ground and slowly dissipated into nothing as Tiir gently lowered herself to the ground.

The faunus collapsed to all fours and dry-retched, taking heaving shuddering breaths as her asthma began to kick in. Val, leaving the dispatching of the remaining grimm to Baldr, quickly went to her creator's side and helped her carefully to her feet.

"We should get you back to the academy, Miss Neve," the female mechanoid advised. "Besides, our objective has been complete so we have no reason to stay any longer than we should."

"G-good idea, V-Val…" Tiir smiled weakly, putting a hand over her mouth as she began to cough violently. She then held out a hand and used her maiden powers to partially return the destroyed area to its former state. Tiir tiredly switched her attention to drone next and quickly used her semblance to repair it. "Hey, sorry about that, Professor Ozpin; the drone got hit by a stray blast from Baldr's cannons. Anyway, we're coming back so…yeah…"

Her attempt at explaining away what had transpired complete, Tiir pushed herself from Val's support and began the trek back to Beacon, albeit with wobbly legs and two concerned mechanoids at her side.

[]

Back in the hall, the watching students were in a light uproar over what they had witnessed during the fight, from the point that it had began to when the drone's footage had been cut off and later returned.

"Damn, that was awesome how she summoned that giant robot!" one student whistled.

"Do you think its some form of new Atlesian mech?" another wondered.

Another student grinned. "She tore through those beowolves like they were nothing! And that pink robot was brutal!"

Meanwhile, Ruby and her team exchanged glances. They had all taken special note of how Tiir had reacted to the ursai and were concerned.

"As strong as she clearly is, there is no doubt that she might be a risk out in the field," Weiss eventually spoke up cautiously. "Someone who freezes in the presence of a grimm…well, they can't exactly be relied upon, can they?"

"But it was only when the ursa showed up!" Ruby argued. "She was doing so good until then!"

"I wonder why its ursa grimm in particular she's afraid of?" Blake mused quietly, frowning as she watched the screen showing Tiir's now unhampered progress through the forest. "There must be some significant reason why."

"Whatever the case, I still say that she's one power packing pocket rocket!" Yang declared determinedly. "So what if she has a fear of ursa? That's why she's gonna have teammates to back her up!" The blonde then smiled ruefully. "Although I doubt she's really gonna need any student teams to help her, with Val and that new guy around."

Weiss crossed her arms in agitation. "I still can't believe that General Ironwood allowed her to keep that Paladin, nor the fact that she's fiddled around with it so drastically!" she huffed.

Yang put an arm around the Schnee heiress and grinned. "Are you just worried that she'll sic the big guy on you as well as Val, Ice Queen?"

As Weiss shrugged Yang's arm off her shoulder and began to berate her, Ruby continued to stare at the screen showing a very tired Tiir finally reaching the cliff leading up to Beacon Academy.

"Guess we'll only figure her out if we ask her," she suddenly announced, a large smile on her face. "I mean, we're the first people she met, so let's be her first friends here!"

"I can agree to that, sis!" Yang cheered and grabbed Ruby, rubbing her fist on her head.

Blake and Weiss watched on amusement as the two sisters began arguing, though both had their own private thoughts about the newcomer to their academy.

All four of them knew that only time would provide the answers to their many burning questions…

[]

_Time for another bonus short! This one shall be about how Jaune and Tiir meet in an awkward situation…_

Bonus Two- Jaune's Detour

It was early morning at Beacon, a time when most students would still be asleep. Not so one Jaune Arc, who had been out on his usual morning routine: sneaking in some attempted practice without anyone's knowledge.

"Man, I just can't get this down right…" he muttered to himself dejectedly.

The blonde leader of Team JNPR then froze when he came upon a sight that he never thought he'd ever get to see: the newest faunus student at Beacon Academy, Tiir, dancing in what she clearly thought to be a secluded spot of the academy grounds. Unfortunately for her, the spot she had chose was directly in the path between Jaune's secret training area and the dorms.

Now, ordinarily the sight of a girl dancing wouldn't have affected Jaune as much as it currently was. However, and most unfortunately for the hormonal teen, Tiir had chosen to forgo her jacket, which her could see was one the ground next to her leggings and other clothes. All that the wolf faunus was wearing was the small white shirt that she apparently wore under her corset and her skirt.

It was immediately clear to Jaune that Tiir had not bee expecting anyone to see her, since she was lifting her legs up in a ballet dancer's stance, meaning very high and in such a way that Jaune, poor unfortunate Jaune, got a clear view of the faunus's surprisingly risqué underwear: he bleakly noted that the pair that Tiir was wearing was black and surprisingly lacy. Jaune only noticed this, of course, when his eyes weren't taking in the faunus's long, smooth legs, the way her skirt also showed her buttocks in an unfortunately erotic manner at certain points even with her long bushy tail and how her arm movements would sometimes either push her large breasts together or cause them to bounce, very pleasingly so to his teenage mind.

Jaune gulped, feeling an unbidden tightening in his trousers, but couldn't tear his eyes away from the surreal sight before him.

Finally, after almost ten minutes of him lurking behind a bush and staring at the somehow unaware faunus (though in reality Tiir was completely focused on her dancing), Jaune managed to find it in himself to stealthily crawl away in the opposite direction of the dancing Tiir, and behind a nearby building.

"Jeez…well, I-I can't exactly go back to the dorm in this condition…" he groaned quietly to himself, looking down at his now erect manhood.

Luckily for Jaune, there were no security cameras nearby and, a few minutes later, if one was looking they would have seen a very red-faced, but relieved looking, blonde boy sneak out from behind the building and hurry back to the dorms…the long way…

_It should be noted that, obviously, some of these bonus chapters will be out of sync with the regular story. This particular one is a 'what if' in where Tiir joined Beacon before Jaune and Pyrrha began their training sessions._


End file.
